Free Lucy

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At 6am on March 20th, CBSA entered the home of Lucy Francineth Granados, a member of the Non Status Women’s Collective and ATTAP (Temporary Workers Association), and violently arrested her, injuring her arm. Since her arrest she has been detained at the Laval Immigration Detention Centre pending deportation.

CONTEXT
After being threatened by the maras (criminal gangs), Lucy traveled alone through Mexico on the infamous La Bestia train to the US and later to Canada, her husband having been killed some years previously in an accident. Her refugee application was refused but she remained in Canada undocumented. She has lived in Montreal for 9 years and is active in community organizations such as the Non Status Women’s Collective and the Temporary Agency Workers Union (ATTAP). Lucy is the sole financial support for her three children. They live in Guatemala with their grandmother and depend entirely on the remittances sent by their mother for all their basic needs (food, shelter, school fees, etc.). If Lucy were deported, her children would immediately lose their sole source of financial support. Last summer she filed a humanitarian application for permanent residence in an attempt to regularize her status. In January, a CBSA officer informed her lawyer that Lucy’s file would not be studied unless she turned herself in to face deportation. However, Canadian immigration law says that the Minister must study all humanitarian applications inside Canada; the CBSA officer illegally misrepresented the situation. Neither Immigration nor CBSA have responded to her lawyer’s demand that the situation be clarified. According to Immigration Canada information, her file is being evaluated, and a response could normally be expected any time if she is allowed to remain in Canada. Unless Minister of Public Safety Ralph Goodale intervenes to suspend the deportation, Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen expedites processing of her file, or the City of Montreal takes its responsibility seriously, Lucy could be deported before her file is determined.

— Organized by Solidarity Across Borders and the Immigrant Workers Centre

Members of the Mutual Aid Disaster Relief collective, went to Puerto Rico, to help distribute food and water and to provide medical aid in the aftermath of hurricane Maria. On the morning of October 16th, their base of operations was raided by a SWAT team with the pretext that they were responding to a hostage situation

Year 2017 Length 1 MIN

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